OT- New area code?

[rrlbees]

History Lesson: I grew up in a small town (Armonk, NY) in the era of three-digit phone numbers. Our number was 600, and all you could dial were the other three-digit numbers in Armonk. For any call outside Armonk, you had to go through a long-distance operator. When I was in 6th grade, everyone in Armonk got a 3 added to their number... so ours was 3600. But we still had to dial an operator to place a call outside of Armonk. Seven digits arrived when I was in high school, and our number became AR3-3600. Suddenly, you could call neighboring towns ... without first dialing an operator. But to call any further (like 10 miles) you still needed to dial an operator to place a "long-distance call." Area codes (and touch-tone phones) arrived when I was in college. It was like magic. Suddenly you could call any place in the USA without going through an operator. I have occasionally wondered what happened to all the operators who must have lost their jobs through all these "upgrades." Ten-digit dialing came to Southport, CT (where I now live) about five years ago. It still seems strange to have to dial 10-digits to reach the person next door ... or 11 digits to reach someone two towns away. (Actually, the hardest part is trying to figure out when you have to add "1" and dial 11 digits because it is not always apparent from the number).

I don't remember the whole number, but when I was little I do remember our phone number starting with HE7-.

 

[Frozen]

My dad still calls the refrigerator the ice box sometimes. I will have to ask him about his old phone numbers.

My dad is all Frigidaire, all the time.

 

[realorange]

I'll go one back on CTO. I remember the calling numbers and their length, but the first phone we had you had to ring the numbers with a crank on the side of the box. A number might be one short ring and two long or some such combination. Usually, when your phone rang, you could hear the clicks of several of your neighbors listening in. No secrets then. By the way, that was outside of Manlius, so maybe someone else here can reach back in time.

 

[690West]

even 690 would be more appropriate than 680

I agree

 

[SBU72]

In 18 months, they will run out of 315 numbers, so all new numbers issued will be 680.

You'll have to dial 10 digits to make local calls.

So they are not going to do what they did to Rochester and Buffalo a few years ago. Geographically split the region. Rochester lost it's 716 area code (and Buffalo kept it) and became 585. Doesn't require 10 numbers when calling in your region.

 

[tbonezone]

I'll go one back on CTO. I remember the calling numbers and their length, but the first phone we had you had to ring the numbers with a crank on the side of the box. A number might be one short ring and two long or some such combination. Usually, when your phone rang, you could hear the clicks of several of your neighbors listening in. No secrets then. By the way, that was outside of Manlius, so maybe someone else here can reach back in time.

ahh.. i remember the old party lines. we had one at our cottage way back. you'd pick up the phone and people were already talking.
also remember not just the letters but words first when you asked for a number.
the first 3 digits people would say something like "sunset 2" or "axle 3" , "belmont 7" etc.
(interesting side note. death by lighting strikes has dropped in recent years. research posits possibly fewer farmers and the cordless phone as likely causes. )

 

[orange79]

So they are not going to do what they did to Rochester and Buffalo a few years ago. Geographically split the region. Rochester lost it's 716 area code (and Buffalo kept it) and became 585. Doesn't require 10 numbers when calling in your region.

Yeah, it's an overlay, not a split. I used to work at AT&T, and the complexities (at least back then) were a nightmare. It's funny, about half of the new area codes were splits, half were overlays. Local areas lobbied for which they would get.

 

[AZOrange]

History Lesson: I grew up in a small town (Armonk, NY) in the era of three-digit phone numbers. Our number was 600, and all you could dial were the other three-digit numbers in Armonk. For any call outside Armonk, you had to go through a long-distance operator. When I was in 6th grade, everyone in Armonk got a 3 added to their number... so ours was 3600. But we still had to dial an operator to place a call outside of Armonk. Seven digits arrived when I was in high school, and our number became AR3-3600. Suddenly, you could call neighboring towns ... without first dialing an operator. But to call any further (like 10 miles) you still needed to dial an operator to place a "long-distance call." Area codes (and touch-tone phones) arrived when I was in college. It was like magic. Suddenly you could call any place in the USA without going through an operator. I have occasionally wondered what happened to all the operators who must have lost their jobs through all these "upgrades." Ten-digit dialing came to Southport, CT (where I now live) about five years ago. It still seems strange to have to dial 10-digits to reach the person next door ... or 11 digits to reach someone two towns away. (Actually, the hardest part is trying to figure out when you have to add "1" and dial 11 digits because it is not always apparent from the number).

Wait are you Alexander Graham bell?

 

[AZOrange]

My dad still calls the refrigerator the ice box sometimes. I will have to ask him about his old phone numbers.

You see tonight we're all going to go down and see the picture show...and then maybe head to a speakeasy

 

[longtimefan]

So they are not going to do what they did to Rochester and Buffalo a few years ago. Geographically split the region. Rochester lost it's 716 area code (and Buffalo kept it) and became 585. Doesn't require 10 numbers when calling in your region.

Individuals like the system where they cut an area in two--like 716/585. The business community, not so much; as they (the ones in the geographic area that got the new code) have to change advertising, business cards, etc. Extra expense.

Now, when a new area code is needed, the overlay, rather than the split, usually carries the day. The Chamber of Commerce has a lot more clout than all of the John Does,

 

[SBU72]

Yeah, it's an overlay, not a split. I used to work at AT&T, and the complexities (at least back then) were a nightmare. It's funny, about half of the new area codes were splits, half were overlays. Local areas lobbied for which they would get.

I'm going out on a limb here, but I suppose a vast majority of private calls are now made from phones with stored numbers, thus making using 10 digits much easier and actually a non-issue. Since I am not familiar with the overlay system, if you call a number with the same area code as yours, do you get away with 7 numbers or have to use 10 all the time?

 

[orange79]

I'm going out on a limb here, but I suppose a vast majority of private calls are now made from phones with stored numbers, thus making using 10 digits much easier and actually a non-issue. Since I am not familiar with the overlay system, if you call a number with the same area code as yours, do you get away with 7 numbers or have to use 10 all the time?

It used to be that you could, but I don't think so anymore. Not really sure.

 

[sutomcat]

I'm going out on a limb here, but I suppose a vast majority of private calls are now made from phones with stored numbers, thus making using 10 digits much easier and actually a non-issue. Since I am not familiar with the overlay system, if you call a number with the same area code as yours, do you get away with 7 numbers or have to use 10 all the time?

Looks like 10 all of the time once the 'permissive dialing' period ends.

 

[NineOneSeven]

But what color are our jerseys?

 

[orange79]

But what color are our jerseys?

The wrong color